By Steve Weisman
Hats off to all those who made the 36th Annual Walleye Weekend another great success. As always, people came from all over with nearly 2,000 entries into the annual contest. Listed below are the top placers in each category.
Stringer of 3 Walleye:
1st place: Adam Hample from Lake Park at 4.63 lbs
2nd place: Luke Christensen from Spencer at 4.60 lbs (7 PM)
3rd place: Brandon Veen from Worthington at 4.60 lbs (7:05 PM)
Optional Largest Walleye
1st place: Nathan Demuth from Milford at 28.25 inches
2nd place: Wyatt Towne from Hartley at 27.75 inches
3rd place: Randy Meyer from Milford at 26.75 inches
Stringer of 5 Panfish:
1st place: Harlan Wittkopf from Algona at 6.54 lbs
2nd place: Brennon Carpenter from Sioux City at 5.28 lbs
3rd place: Lance Weigan from Altoona at 5.08 lbs
Northern Pike:
1st place: Robert Bendlin from LeMars at 9.12 lbs
2nd place: Nathan Peters from Hartley at 7.52 lbs
3rd place: Kyle Thompson from Milford at 6.54 lbs
Stringer of 10 Bullhead:
1st place: Berklee Carpenter from Sioux City at 12.94 lbs
2nd place: Ryan Crampton from Lehigh at 12.75 lbs
3rd place: Izzy Vermulm from Spencer at 10.07 lbs
For me, the Walleye Weekend always signals the beginning of some of the best fishing of the season. Throughout northwest Iowa, the next six weeks is prime time for catching walleye, panfish, yellow bass, largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike and bullhead. So, yes, this is the perfect time to get the family together and go to your favorite fishing hole.
What is going to be most unusual on West Okoboji, East Okoboji and Big Spirit is the catchup game that the dock and hoist workers are faced with because of the late iceout.
